Library  in  Relation 
to  the  School . 


Alfred  Bay /is  s 


The  Library  in  Relation 
to  the  School 


An  Address  Delivered  at  the  Northern  Illinois 
Teachers’  Association,  Dixon, 

April  28,  1899 


BY 


ALFRED  BAYLISS 


Public-School  Publishing  Company 
Bloomington,  Illinois 
1901 


THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 


Of  the  twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand 
teachers  in  Illinois,  probably  24,750  to 
29,700,  or  ninety-nine  in  every  hundred, 
either  spend  some  portion  of  every  school 
day  in  teaching  children  to  read,  or  in 
wishing  that  some  predecessor  had  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  so.  Possibly,  at  this 
very  moment,  some  ten  thousand  are  en- 
gaged in  teaching  young  children  to  rec- 
ognize and  pronounce  words.  Some  are 
doing  it  by  the  modern,  so-called  “word 
method ;”  a few  are  still  teaching,  as  their 
grandsires  taught, — by  the  mediaeval 
a-b-c  method.  Still  others  are  devout 
believers  in  the  infallibility  of  the  sound- 
ing and  singing  synthetic  “system.” 
Many  are  not  married  to  any  device,  and 
if  they  were,  would  not  think  of  dubbing 
it  either  a “method”  or  a “system.”  They 
only  know  that  somehow, — by  the  shortest 
rational  method,  if  possible,  it  is  the  chief 
part  of  their  duty  to  see  that  the  children 
master  the  mechanics  of  reading.  This 
is  foundation  work,  and  is  as  difficult  as 
it  is  important. 


3 


All  beginnings  are  difficult;  but  we. 
who  have  long  since  been  released  from 
the  task,  are  in  danger  of  forgetting;  and 
you,  who  have  never  tried  it,  do  not  know, 
just  how  difficult,  both  to  teacher  and 
child,  this  particular  beginning  is.  The 
really  skillful  teacher  is  often  able  to  so 
combine  phonic,  word,  and  sentence  de- 
vices as  to  quit*>  baffle  the  unskilled  ob- 
server who  would  label  her  method.  (The 
perfection  of  art  is  to  conceal  art.)  But 
if,  by  levying  tribute — ad  valorem — of  all 
the  devices,  she  has  taught  the  children 
to  get  the  thought  expressed  by  the  writ- 
ten and  printed  forms  of  his  vocabulary, 
and  trained  him  to  reproduce  them  dis- 
tinctly, and  “give  the  sense, ” she  has 
performed  a service  that  makes  the  child 
and  all  his  future  teachers  her  debtors; 
for  she  has  given  the  one  the  key  to  all 
that  the  mightiest  of  earth  have 
thought  worth  preserving,  and  has  left 
nothing  for  the  others  to  do  but  to  guide 
him  to  and  through  the  store-houses. 

Perhaps.  For  this  cannot  be  said 
without  reservation.  It  is  a case  of  the 
dualism,  which,  as  Emerson  points  out, 
bisects  the  entire  nature  and  condition  of 
man.  It  is  like  day  and  night,  or  light 


4 


and  darkness.  Every  good  has  its  evil. 
“Every  faculty  which  is  a receiver  of 
pleasure  has  an  equal  penalty  put  upon 
its  abuse.  It  is  to  answer  for  its  modera- 
tion with  this  life”  So,  after  all,  we  dare 
not  say  that  one  who  has  taught  another 
to  read  has  thereby  done  him  a great 
good.  It  does  not  necessarily  follow.  The 
speechless  guest  who  went  in  with- 
out a wedding  garment  was  bound  hand 
and  foot  and  cast  into  outer  darkness.  It 
is  true,  that  who  is  master  of  this  art 
(reading)  has  access  to  the  universal 
mind  of  man.  He  may  share  the  thoughts 
of  the  philosophers  and  the  emotions  of 
the  saints  of  all  ages.  The  record  of  the 
past  is  his.  So  is  the  fresh,  damp  journal 
of  the  “Days  Doings.”  He  may  read 
Shakespeare  or  Sylvanus  Cobb,  Jr.  He 
may  saturate  himself  with  the  “Vision 
of  Sir  Launfal,”  and  the  “Commemora- 
tion Ode,”  or  he  may  turn  to  that  which 
leads  to  mental  and  moral  degradation, 
impossible  before.  Reading  may  build 
“more  stately  mansions  for  the  soul,”  or 
it  may  shrivel  and  disfigure  it;  train  it 
to  revere  the  right,  or  tangle  and 
strangle  it  in  the  mazes  of  unrestrained 
desire. 


5 


The  school  library  as  a factor  in  the 
formation  of  right  character  is  in  special 
harmony  with  the  key-note  of  onr  work, 
and  it  is  from  that  point  of  view  that  I 
wish  to  speak.  Yet  I cannot  forbear  to 
say  a half-reminiscent  word  about  its 
function  in  teaching  the  mere  mechanical 
art  of  reading.  We  understand  this  bet- 
ter than  we  did  a few  years  ago.  If  it 
were  possible  to  select  the  best  ten  teach- 
ers of  reading  in  Illinois,  I think  I know 
at  least  one  whose  name  would  be  on  the 
list.  Several  years  ago  he  was  in  charge 
of  the  schools  in  a little  central  Illinois 
city,  and  being  in  advance  of  his  timej 
had  the  temerity  one  day,  to  ask  his  board 
to  appropriate  a small  sum  for  the  pur- 
chase of  what  he  called  “supplementary 
reading  matter.”  Supplementary  is  a 
long  word,  and  the  directors  wouldn’t 
have  been  more  in  the  dark  as  to  what  he 
really  wanted,  if  he  had  asked  for  some 
Choctaw  or  Sanskrit  books  for  the  primer 
class.  Those  were  the  days  of  slates  and 
pencils  and  such  a proposition  required  a 
diagram.  This  was  what  he  finally  had 
to  do  to  get  those  books — first  readers  of 
another  kind — which  were  what  we  all 
used  then.  (The  Seven  Little  Sisters  had 


6 


not  been  written  then,  nor  had  any  of  the 
wealth  of  material  for  this  purpose,  so 
abundant  now.  been  put  in  form  for  school 
use.)  1 i 

Having  manipulated  the  board  with 
some  skill,  he  eventually  inveigled  the 
two  leading  members  into  a primary 
room.  The  best  first  reader  class  was 
then  called  out  and  “wound  up,” — that 
is,  set  to  reading.  It  was,  no  doubt,  an 
excellent  class  for  the  purpose, — picked 
and  trained  for  the  purpose,  for  anything 
I know  or  suspect  to  the  contrary.  At 
any  rate,  the  children  read  the  book 
“through,”  in  an  hour  or  so,  and  it  hap- 
pened that  one  little  chan  dropped  his 
book,  and  after  recovering  it,  held  it 
wrong  side  up  during  the  remainder  of 
the  exposition,  but  read  the  right  para- 
graph, just  the  same,  whenever  his  turn 
came.  That  accident,  reinforced  by  both 
ocular  and  aural  demonstration,  that  sev- 
eral of  the  children  could  “read”  quite  as 
well  without  a book  as  with  one,  overcame 
the  objections  of  the  conservative  direc- 
tors, and  an  extra  set  of  readers  was 
provided.  In  northern  Illinois,  at  least, 
that  particular  form  of  school  library  is 
no  longer  considered  an  “extra,”  but  is 


provided  for  as  one  of  the  regular  sup- 
plies. Without  so  much  of  a library,  we 
cannot  teach  even  the  mere  art  of  reading 
economically. 

But  to  obtain  books  to  be  used  in  train- 
ing the  young  in  the  reading  that  makes 
for  character  and  affects  the  issues  of  life 
is  not  yet  altogether  and  everywhere  ea^y, 
nor  is  the  place  of  the  library  in  educa- 
tion quite  acknowledged  or  clearly  un- 
derstood. 

Nevertheless,  the  library  spirit  is 
abroad  in  the  land,  and  is  very  much 
alive  in  Illinois.  In  more  than  half  the 
counties  active  efforts  are  in  progress,  and 
every  conceivable  plan  of  raising  money 
which  the  ingenuity  of  enthusiastic  teach- 
ers and  pupils  has  been  able  to  contrive, 
with  variations,  has  been  tried  some- 
where. Literary,  musical,  social  and 
“mixed”  entertainments;  box,  basket,  pie, 
oyster,  and  plain  socials  and  suppers; 
subscriptions  of  money,  from  a penny  up ; 
book  receptions;  spelling  matches;  and, 
in  two  or  three  cases,  the  pupils  even 
clean  the  school  house — scrub  the  floors 
and  wash  the  windows,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  book  fund.  An  enterprising  young 
teacher,  in  Peoria  county,  went  to  a lead- 


8 


ing  merchant,  about  Christmas  time,  got 
a supply  of  bibles,  photograph  albums, 
and  other  holiday  goods,  and  at  the  close 
of  a short  concert  or  something,  auc- 
tioned them  off,  and  earned  eight  dollars 
in  commissions  for  her  school  library. 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  is  not  in  Illinois, 
but  I have  no  doubt  the  Memphis  variety 
of  auction  is, — somewhere, — so  I will  just 
add  it  to  the  list  as  the  last  variation  that 
has  come  to  me.  The  principal  of  one  of 
the  schools  in  that  city  (the  St.  Paul 
school)  has  the  children  collect  and  care 
for  all  lost  and  unclaimed  articles.  They 
are  kept  for  a stated  time,  and  if  still 
uncalled  for,  are  turned  over  to  a com- 
mittee to  be  sold  at  auction.  At  the 
proper  time  an  auctioneer  is  selected,  the 
flag  hung  out,  the  bell  rung,  and  the  ar- 
ticles duly  sold  to  the  highest  bidders  for 
cash.  The  children  in  that  school  are 
reported  to  be  very  proud  of  their  library, 
and  the  thirty-five  pictures  framed  by  that 
means. 

It  is  sometimes  objected  that  these 
things  disturb  the  regular  work  of  the 
school  to  an  extent  not  fully  compensated 
by  the  books  earned,  even  when  due  al- 
lowance is  made  for  the  contribution  to 


9 


the  social  life  of  the  school.  This  objec- 
tion is  sometimes  well  grounded.  When- 
ever and  wherever  a board  of  directors  is 
nearly  enough  up-to-date  to  appropriate 
money  for  books  and  book-cases,  it  is 
probably  wise  to  “accept  the  good  the 
gods  provide,”  and  accumulate  the  library 
in  that  way.  But  some  boards  do  not  have 
the  funds  at  their  disposal,  and  others 
doubt  the  expediency  of  so  appropriating 
them,  and  what  is  the  teacher  to  do  then  ? 
Money  can  be  raised  and  expended  with- 
out turning  the  current  of  school  life  too 
widely  from  its  regular  channel. 

(1  once  had  occasion  to  equip  a football 
team  for  action  on  very  short  notice.  I 
said  to  the  school,  on  Thursday  morning, 
that  we  would  have  a “social”  Friday 
evening,  and  that  each  pupil  might  invite 
as  many  friends  as  he  pleased.  At  noon, 
I asked  the  girls  to  wait  a few  minutes. 
After  the  boys  had  gone  home,  I said: 
“All  the  girls  who  can’t  keep  a secret  may 
be  excused ;”  also,  “all  the  girls  who  don’t 
care  to  help  the  boys  out.”  Nobody  went. 
So  I said : “Every  girl  who  wants  to  may 
fill  any  kind  of  a box  with  anything  she 
pleases  that  is  good  to  eat,  and  worth 
from  a nickel  to  a dime ; but  no  girl  may 


10 


tell  another  what  is  in  her  box,  nor  put 
any  distinguishing  mark  upon  it ; and  the 
boxes  must  all  be  brought  to  the  school 
building  Friday  evening  and  delivered  to 
a certain  committee  in  a certain  room.” 
The  next  morning  I told  the  boys  that 
the  girls  had  taken  upon  themselves  the 
entire  burden  of  the  evening’s  entertain- 
ment, the  nature  of  which  they  would 
learn  at  the  proper  time, — but  not  be- 
fore,— and  that  they  ought  to  have  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  cents  in  their  pock- 
ets. There  was  enough  curiosity  to  in- 
terest, and  not  enough  to  excite.  There 
was  plenty  of  time  after  school,  Friday, 
to  pick  up  some  music  and  a very  short 
“impromptu”  programme;  everybody  had 
a good  time,  and  the  sale  of  the  boxes 
netted  over  thirty  dollars  for  the  football 
team.  The  money  could  have  been  earned 
for  books  in  the  same  way,  and  just  as 
easily. ) 

A number  of  sagacious  county  superin- 
tendents have  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  right  way  to  provide  a school  library 
is  by  money  regularly  appropriated  by 
the  school  boards.  In  discussing  this 
subject  at  Springfield  last  December,  I 
stated  that  I was  disposed  to  agree  with 


11 


them.  A day  or  two  afterward,  however, 
one  of  the  best  and  most  practical  city 
superintendents  in  the  state,  said  to  me: 
“Your  remarks  about  building  libraries 
were  not  much  over  half  bad,  except  as  to 
the  statement  just  referred  to.”  In  the 
discussion  which  followed,  I am  inclined 
to  think  he  must  have  got  the  better  of 
the  argument,  for  he  is  a reasonable  man. 
and  I couldn’t  change  his  opinion.  His 
theory  is  that  there  is  a valuable  edu- 
cating force  in  “self-help,”  and  that  the 
collection  of  a library  furnishes  the  best 
possible  motive  for  its  exercise.  He  en- 
forced his  argument  with  the  history  of 
the  foundation  and  growth  of  a school 
library  which  I am  sure  is  unique  enough 
to  interest  some  of  you  as  much  as  it  did 
me,  and  I am  going  to  give  it  to  you  as 
it  was  afterwards  condensed  by  him  at 
my  request: 

Galesburg,  III.,  January  7,  1899. 

I am  not  very  busy  but  I am  very  lazy. 
I am  glad  to  receive  your  Hew  Year’s 
greeting,  and  I certainly  hope  it  will  be  a 
happy  and  prosperous  year  to  you.  You 
would  like  me  to  tell  you  the  tale  of  the 
Yates  City  School  library.  With  the  help 
of  Mr.  Felch,  our  teacher  of  stenography. 


12 


I will  undertake  to  tell  yon  the  story  as 
best  I can: 

The  school  at  Yates  City  took  the 
premium  at  the  county  fair  in  September. 
1878,  which  was  ten  volumes  of  Rolfe’s 
Classics.  I mean,  what  was  called  the 
High  School  department,  took  this 
premium.  These  books  suggested  that 
more  books  were  desirable.  I proposed 
to  them  that  each  pupil  should  give  to 
the  school,  to  form  a library,  one  book 
which  he  or  she  had  read  and  found  in- 
teresting, and  that  the  name  of  the  donor 
would  be  written  on  a tag  which  was 
pasted  in  the  book.  I made  this  state- 
ment in  all  the  rooms,  and,  as  a result, 
we  got  about  fifty  volumes  in  this  way. 
They  were  readable  books  because  none 
would  be  accepted  that  the  child  had  not 
himself  read  and  had  not  been  interested 
in,  and  the  fact  that  his  name  was  to  be 
placed  upon  the  tag  was  a guarantee  that 
it  was  a valuable  one,  as  you  will  readily 
see. 

After  this  I began  to  talk  to  some  of 
the  citizens  to  get  them  interested  in  a 
library.  The  leading  merchant,  I found, 
had  had  experience  in  establishing  a li- 
brary in  Farmington,  a town  five  miles 


13 


south.  It  had  lasted  for  two  or  three 
years  and  had  failed.  While  he  appre- 
ciated the  value  of  the  library,  he  thought 
that  it  could  not  be  successfully  con- 
ducted in  a town  of  our  size.  Another  had 
had  a like  experience  in  Elmwood,  a town 
three  miles  east  of  us.  I found  that  the 
trouble  had  been  the  want  of  funds — 
that  room  rent,  fuel,  janitor’s  services 
and  the  libraries  cost  more  than  the  towns 
could  raise  for  the  purpose  without 
adding  any  books  to  it.  So  I undertook 
to  get  around  that  point  in  this  way. 

There  was  a room  adjoining  the  princi- 
pal’s room,  which  had  been  used  for 
recitation  purposes.  The  board  readily 
said  that  we  could  use  it  for  a library. 
This  provided  not  only  the  room  but  the 
fuel  and  janitor’s  services,  and  I proposed 
to  act  as  librarian.  Thus  every  dollar 
that  would  come  into  our  hands  would 
be  placed  in  books.  We  called  the  library 
the  “School  and  Public  Library,”  allow- 
ing the  school  to  get  books  from  it  every 
day  and  the  public  on  Saturday  after- 
noons. 

We  organized  a literary  society  from 
the  pupils  of  the  upper  room  and  the 
young  people  in  the  town.  We  decided 


14 


to  hold  a library  festival  on  Thanksgiving 
evening , and  the  young  people  solicited 
provisions  from  the  town  and  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Any  person  who  con- 
tributed in  this  way  and  bought  two  tick- 
ets, which  were  sold  at  thirty-five  cents 
apiece,  would  be  given  a ticket  to  the  li- 
brary good  for  one  year.  Along  with  this 
festival  was  given  a literary  entertain- 
ment by  the  society.  This  society,  literary 
entertainment,  and  festival  gave  oppor- 
tunity for  social  exercises  to  the  young 
people  which  had  formerly  been  spent  in 
dancing.  One  thing  I watched  with  great 
care  and  that  was  that  nobody,  under  any 
conditions  whatever,  should  have  a free 
ticket  to  either  the  librarv  exercises  or  the 
festival.  All  of  the  work  was  done  from  a 
motive  of  pride  and  loyalty  to  the  school 
and  town.  This  brought  in  only  the  ca- 
pable, energetic  and  generous  part  of  the 
community  as  workers,  and  the  public 
knowing  this  fact,  I think,  were  much 
more  willing  to  contribute  when  they 
knew  nobody  was  dead-headed.  This 
point  I have  not  made  clear,  but  it  is  the 
most  essential  feature  of  conducting  such 
an  enterprise,  viz.,  those  who  did  the 


15 


work  donated  it  and  paid  for  admission 
the  same  as  those  who  did  nothing. 

. Ten  days  after  the  entertainment,  we 
had  the  books  which  the  money  pur- 
chased, in  the  library,  and  every  person 
connected  with  the  school  or  with  this  en- 
tertainment, was  greatly  interested  in  the 
books  and  wanted  one  to  read,  and  it  was 
wonderful  the  number  of  volumes  drawn 
during  the  winter  months  which  followed 
this  entertainment.  I made  all  the  se- 
lections of  the  books,  mainly  biography, 
history,  travel,  and  standard  fiction. 
There  were  men  in  that  community  who 
were  influential  and  had  means,  and  who 
enjoyed  hunting  and  fishing.  In  order 
to  enlist  their  interest,  I found  out  what 
books  would  interest  them,  and  bought 
them.  As  I recall  them  now,  some  of 
these  books  were  “Isaak  Walton,”  “Sports 
Afield,”  by  Forrester,  “The  Still  Hunter,” 
and  “The  Game  Birds  of  America.” 
These  books  are  classic  in  their  line,  good 
for  anybody  to  read  and  nobody  could  ob- 
ject to  them.  By  placing  these  books  in 
the  library,  these  persons  became  inter- 
ested and  contributed  to  it,  not  only  bv 
always  giving  the  soliciting  committee 
something  and  buying  tickets,  but  by 


16 


words  of  encouragement  which  amounted 
to  more. 

The  first  festival  was  held  on  Thanks- 
giving evening,  1878,  and  we  undertook 
to  dedicate  that  day  as  sacred  to  the  Yates 
City  School  and  Public  Library.  For  the 
past  tiventy  years  that  entertainment  has 
been  held  annually.  Next  to  the  Harvest 
Home,  it  is  the  event  of  the  year  to  that 
community. 

We  made  daily  use  of  the  library  in 
connection  with  almost  every  subject  but 
especially  with  geography  and  history, 
and  many  a day  I have  helped  put  back 
into  the  library  fifty  volumes  that  had 
been  consulted  by  the  pupils  of  my  room. 

I was  there  seven  years  and  the  last 
3rear,  I remember  that  there  were  thirty- 
seven  persons  who  had  attended  that 
school  that  were  then  teaching  in  Knox 
county,  and  Peoria  and  Fulton  counties, 
which  were  but  a few  miles  from  Yates 
City.  I was  in  luck  in  that  commu- 
nity— came  to  it  just  in  the  right  time. 
It  did  lots  for  me  and  I think  I did  some- 
thing for  them.  I have  tried  to  give  you 
an  idea  of  this  enterprise  but  I am  afraid 
it  has  been  rather  rambling ; however, 
perhaps  you  can  “catch  on.” 

W.  L.  Steele. 


17 


Remembering  that  I had  once  heard 
something,  which  I do  not  believe  with- 
out reservation,  to  the  effect  that:  “As 
is  theteacher,  so  is  the  school,”  and  know- 
ing that  Mr.  Steele  has  been  away  from 
Yates  City  for  twelve  or  fourteen  years, 
it  occurred  to  me  to  inquire  how  long  the 
library  survived  him.  A letter  to  the 
present  principal  brought  the  following 
very  interesting  reply : 

“I  have  pleasure  in  responding  to  your 
request  of  recent  date  for  information 
concerning  our  school  and  public  library. 

“The  association  was  formed  and  the 
library  started  about  1878,  during  the 
time  Superintendent  Steele  of  Galesburg, 
was  principal  of  this  school.  Under  his 
care  and  management  the  library  was 
placed  firmly  upon  its  feet  and  made  an 
institution  of  the  community.  How  fully 
it  enters  into  the  lives  of  our  people  and 
how  much  of  their  care  it  has,  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  thatfai  this  village 
of  fewer  than  eight  hundred  people , it  has 
been  maintained  for  twenty  years , and 
numbers  almost  two  thousand  volumes , 
without  any  assistance  whatever,  except 
that  coming  from  the  voluntary  efforts 
of  the  citizens. 


18 


“During  the  earlier  years,  annual  and 
life  memberships  were  sold;  but  later,  that 
plan  seems  to  have  been  dropped  and  all 
living  in  the  village  and  those  in  the 
country  who  in  any  way  contribute  to  its 
support  are  considered  members  of  the 
association  and  entitled  to  the  use  of  the 
library.  To  such  as  live  in  the  country, 
membership  tickets  are  issued;  for  those 
who  live  in  town,  the  fact  of  residence 
is  considered  enough.  Formerly  many 
donations  of  books  and  money  were  made ; 
we  receive  some  yet,  though  fewer.  The 
chief  means  of  the  library’s  support  has 
always  been  the  giving  of  entertainments, 
festivals,  etc.  For  twenty  years,  on  the 
evening  of  Thanksgiving  day,  an  enter- 
tainment or  festival,  or  both,  has  been 
given.  At  times  other  entertainments 
have  been  given.  Those  on  Thanksgiv- 
ing have  netted  from  forty  to  one  hundred 
dollars.  The  series  of  annual  reports  is 
not  complete  and  I am  unable  to  give  you 
the  aggregate  sum  expended  for  the  li- 
brary since  its  foundation.  Two  thousand 
dollars  is  an  approximation.  Our  first 
entertainment  this  year  netted  fifty  doh 
lars.  We  have  another  in  preparation  and 
desire  to  make  this  year’s  receipts  one 
hundred  dollars. 


19 


“In  1889  the  then  principal,  Mr.  L.  E. 
Harriss  classified  the  books  and  made  np 
a catalogue  which  was  printed.  In  1895. 
this  catalogue  had  ceased  very  fully  to 
represent  the  library,  and  the  present 
writer  made  a card  catalogue  under  some- 
what modified  form  of  the  expansion  sys- 
tem. We  have  no  printed  catalogue  now, 
though  there  goes  to  you  by  this  mail 
under  separate  cover,  a copy  of  the  old 
one.  It  will  give  you  the  constitution  of 
the  association,  and  something  of  the  his- 
tory thereof. 

“Herewith  enclosed  you  will  please  find 
a few  facts  from  my  latest  report  which 
will  enable  you  to  form  an  idea  of  the 
character  and  use  of  the  library. 

“Trusting  that  this  carries  the  desired 
information,  and  that  if  it  does  not  you 
will  not  hesitate  to  ask  further,  I am,  etc., 

BOOKS  ISSUED  DURING  THE  YEAR. 

The  library  is  opened  regularly  each 
week  from  2 until  4 p.  m.  Saturday.  At 
these  openings  the  number  of  issues  was 
1,864.  The  two  lower  rooms  of  the  school 
have  books  of  their  own  belonging  to,  but 
separated  from  the  main  library.  From 
these  collections,  and  in  connection  with 


20 


the  literary  work  of  the  higher  depart- 
ment, were  issued  471, — total,  2,335.  The 
larger  per  cent  of  the  first  number  above 
represents  fiction,  though  enough  comes 
from  the  other  departments  to  make  the 
showing  fairly  creditable  to  the  reading 
taste  of  the  community. 

BOOKS  NOW  IN  THE  LIBRARY. 

(A)  General  works,  Dictionaries,  Cy- 
clopedias, Reference  books,  45 ; reports 
bound,  113;  reports  not  bound,  117; 
bound  periodicals,  15.  (B)  Philosophy — 

B.  M.  Moral  Philosophy,  23;  B.  R.  Re- 
ligion, 54.  (D)  Ecclesiastical  History, 

3.  (E)  Biography,  254.  (P)  History , 

302.  (G)  Geography,  travels,  etc.,  141, 

(H)  Social  Sciences,  11.  (I)  Education 

20.  (J)  Political  Science,  19.  (K) 

Woman,  2.  (L)  Science,  82.  (U)  Art 
of  War,  1.  (V)  Athletic  and  Recreative 

Arts,  7 ; Music,  1.  (Y)  Literature,  35. 

(Y  E)  Essays  and  Reviews,  9.  (Y  F) 
Fiction,  256.  (Y  M)  Miscellaneous  Liter- 
ature, 18.  ( Y J)  Juvenile  literature,  307, 

(Y  P)  Poetry,  8L  (Y  0)  Orators  and 
Oratory,  13.  (YW)  Wit  and  Humor,  40, 
(X)  Language,  7.  Total,  1,990. 

W.  P.  Boyes,  Principal. 


21 


Now,  Yates  City  is  a small  community. 
There  are  but  800  people  in  the  village, 
and  but  four  teachers  in  the  school,  and 
the  principal  gets  less  than  “a  thousand 
a year.”  I know  no  reason  why  any  other 
similar  community,  or  any  good  rural 
community  that  has  the  judgment  to  unite 
the  schools  of  a township  into  a single 
organization,  cannot  do  as  well. 

In  some  counties  there  is  a system  of 
exchanging  district  libraries  within  the 
townships,  or  township  libraries  within 
the  county.  Madison  county  has  a county 
circulating  library  to  which  each  school 
having  a ten-dollar  library  is  admitted. 
Bond  and  Effingham  counties  report  simi- 
lar plans.  In  the  last  named  county,  the 
superintendent  says  there  is  “one  trouble .” 
The  books  do  not  circulate  as  fast  as  he 
anticipated.  The  children  get  hold  of 
them  and  won’t  return  them  on  time,  be- 
cause “father  and  mother,  and  their  big 
brothers  and  sisters  have  to  read  them 
first.”  Well,  “trouble”  of  that  kind  is 
just  what  the  libraries  are  intended  to 
make  at  first. 

Other  counties,  like  Stephenson  and 
Champaign,  have  county  libraries  for 
teachers.  In  Champaign,  there  are  over 


22 


2,000  volumes  in  the  county  library,  and 
it  has  been  the  fruitful  mother  of  many 
local  libraries.  Stephenson  has  1,500  vol- 
umes which  “circulate  among  the  teachers 
and  pupils  like  coin  of  the  realm,”  and 
the  superintendent  says  that  “the  result  is 
that  school  authorities  have  come  to  see 
the  benefits  of  the  library  and  have  joined 
hands  with  the  pupils  and  teachers  to 
secure  one  for  the  district,”  another  evi- 
dence that  the  gods  help  those  who  first 
help  themselves. 

A very  interesting  and  fruitful  inquiry 
into  the  condition  and  workings  of  public 
libraries  in  Illinois  was  made  last  winter 
by  Mr,  Barbour  of  Rockford.  By  the 
papers,  which  he  has  been  kind  enough 
to  lend  me,  two  things  are  made  evident. 
First,  that  in  cities  of  10,000  and  under, 
the  relations  between  the  public  libraries 
and  the  public  schools  might  well  be 
closer.  Few  in  the  class  named  are  doing 
such  a work  as  Yates  City  is  doing.  Few 
are  doing  as  much  as  Stephenson  and 
Champaign  counties  are  doing.  (This 
by  the  way,  is  our  fault.  The  libraries 
are  for  all  the  world  like  Barkis,  willin' — 
though  at  least  one  librarian  might  be 
more  generous.  She  writes  Mr.  Barbour 


23 


to  the  effect  that  she  hopes  he  will  publish 
the  result  of  his  inquiries,  but  not  in  a 
school  journal — as,  in  that  case,  Mr.  X 
might  see  them,  and  he  has  been  in  the 
library  but  once  since  he  came  to  town 
and  then  didn’t  seem  to  be  interested  in 
the  books.  Mr.  X.  is  a city  superintendent 
of  schools. 

Secondly,  it  is  noticeable  that  nearly 
every  librarian  is  in  favor  of  more  library 
legislation — very  many  of  them  favoring 
a State  Library  Commission , which,  by 
the  way,  was  the  particular  feature  of  the 
proposed  traveling  library  law  which 
caused  its  death  at  the  hands  of  the  “more 
numerous  branch”  of  the  last  general  as- 
sembly. 

But  I refer  to  public  libraries,  chiefly  to 
call  attention  to  the  work  begun  by  the 
Rockford  library  this  year,  and  which  I 
think  no  other  library  in  Illinois  is  yet 
doing.  The  report  says:  “The  library 
is  placing  in  the  schools  chests  of  books 
for  the  home  use  of  grades  four  to  eight 
inclusive.”  That  was  one  time  when,  in 
my  judgment,  the  Rockford  library  made 
a ten-strike.  And  when  it  placed  thirty- 
two  books  on  pedagogy,  forty-four  books 
on  zoology,  and  seventy-five  volumes  on 


United  States  history,  at  the  disposal  of 
the  county  superintendent,  to  re-inforce 
the  High  School  Library  for  the  use  of 
the  institute,  it  made  almost  as  good  a 
ten-strike  as  Superintendent  Kern  did 
when  he  surrounded  his  teachers  by  books 
and  gave  them,  many  of  them,  I imagine 
their  first  experience  with  the  seminary 
method  of  study. 

I see  some  of  you  are  frowning,  be- 
cause you  think  I use  slang, — and  I hasten 
to  assure  you  that  it  is  worse  even  than 
that.  I don’t  even  know  what  a “ten- 
strike”  is.  But  these  three  things : 
1 — The  carrying  books  from  the  public 
library  to  the  grammar  grades,  2 — the 
loaning  books  so  generously  to  the  teach- 
ers, and  3 — the  attempt  to  give  teachers 
the  pleasure  and  profit  and  inspiration 
of  a week’s  work  under  such  conditions, 
are  new  departures  and  deserve  to  be 
properly  characterized, — and  advertised. 

Three  things  stand  out  in  bold  relief 
as  signs  and  products  of  civilization; 
Cultivated  fields,  cities,  towns,  or  vil- 
lages, with  the  roads  and  bridges  which 
join  them;  and  printed  books.  The  book 
is  by  far  the  greatest  of  the  three.  Three 
things,  chiefly,  conduce  to  clearness  of 


25 


vision,  mental  or  moral:  Observation, 
thought,  reading.  The  last,  again , is  the 
most  important,  for  it  extends  the  first 
stimulates  the  second,  and  corrects  them 
both.  It  is  almost  certain  that  the  intel- 
lectual capacity  of  man  has  not  increased 
for  a thousand  years.  But  it  is  quite 
certain  that  the  cultured  man  of  today  has 
an  immense  advantage  over  his  intel- 
lectual equal  of  1,000  years  ago,  because 
of  the  wealth  of  knowledge  and  thought 
accumulated  and  stored  in  printed 
books.  To  be  sure  it  is  undeniable 
that  a man  whose  observation  is  re- 
liable, i.  e.,  one  who  sees  clearly,  and  who 
thinks  logically,  may  become  the  master 
of  broad  acres  without  knowing  how  to 
read.  He  may  be  shrewd,  and  deep , — 
enough  so  to  move  into  town  and  rent 
his  farm,  but  his  shrewdness  and  depth 
may  be,  and  sometimes  are , entirely  com- 
patible with  a narrowness  that  will  permit 
him  to  scheme  to  keep  down  the  school 
taxes  upon  the  fields  he  has  abandoned. 

Reading  clarifies  as  well  as  broadens  the 
understanding.  A teacher  of  history  gave 
me  the  following  tidbit  the  other  day: 


26 


HISTORY  AS  SHE  IS  RECITED. 

“On  March  15,  Caesar  was  met  in  the 
senate  by  the  Ides  of  March,  who  were 
led  by  Brutus,  Cassius  and  the  Ides  fol- 
lowing.” 

“They  pierced  twenty-two  holes  in  him 
and  he  was  dead.  When  Antony  had 
heard  that  Caesar  was  killed  he  ran  up 
and  down  the  streets  telling  people  that 
Caesar  had  been  killed  by  the  Ides  of 
March.”  j 

“Cassius  and  his  men  started  down  the 
street  yelling,  “Rome  is  free ! Rome  is 
free!”  until  people  got  after  them,  and 
they  all  escaped  for  their  lives,  of  which 
Cassius  and  Brutus  escaped  to  Greece, 
of  which  they  remained  a few  years,  of 
which  they  committed  suicide.” 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  that  report 
is  a statesman  himself  (an  alderman) 
who  thought  it  unnecessary  to  establish  a 
public  library  for  the  double  reason  that 
mature  people  could  buy  their  own  books 
and  children  would  be  better  employed 
at  their  lessons  than  in  reading  books. 
Yet  there  is  no  sort  of  doubt  that  the 
reading  of  books  is  one  ingredient  of  the 
remedy  for  this  peculiar  mental  condition. 

Our  saddest  failure  in  teaching  is  the 


27 


hopeless  attempt  to  cram  information 
into  growing  minds  in  measured  quanti- 
ties, against  time,  prematurely,  and  then 
pump  it  out  again  with  the  “test”  pump^ 
without  loss  in  quantity  or  quality.  Such 
a process  is  not  education.  Education  is 
the  science  of  interesting.  Likes  and  dis- 
likes have  a bearing  and  a value  that  can- 
not be  ignored. 

In  the  days  when  the  “West”  was  newer* 
and  wilder,  and  woolier  than  it  is  now, — a 
traveler, — reading  leisurely  through  a 
rather  elaborate  bill  of  fare,  was  abruptly 
asked  by  the  restaurant  proprietor,  if  he 
wanted  “hash.” 

“No,  Ell  take  quail  on  toast !” 

“Stranger,  you  want  hash !” 

As  the  guest  looked  up,  and  along  the 
shining  barrel  of  the  revolver,  he  quietly, 
and  without  unnecessary  delay,  answered 
“Yes,  Fll  take  hash!” 

Some  of  our  “Courses  of  Study/'  as  ad- 
ministered, are  like  hash,  and  are  only 
accepted  when  there  is  no  alternative. 

There  is  danger,  too,  in  “Courses  of 
Beading.” 

A county  superintendent  has  a list  of 
“one  hundred  books  for  a library,”  which 
he  sends  to  his  teachers,  and  it  is  a very 


28 


good  list  indeed.  But  he  mars  it  by  print- 
ing at  the  bottom  of  the  page:  “The 
above  list  of  books  should  be  read  in  the 
order  in  which  they  are  given !”  Why, 
for  example,  should  the  “Hoosier  School 
Master”  be  read  before  “Tom  Brown  at 
Oxford?”  or  “Nathan  the  Wise”  before 
the  “Vicar  of  Wakefield  ?”  Or  why  should 
the  Carey  Sisters  be  last  on  the  list — 
Shakespeare  alone  excepted?  Why  can- 
not a boy  read  Shakespeare  whenever  he 
gets  a taste  and  finds  that  he  likes  it? 
“There  is  no  tone  of  feeling  that  is  not 
capable  of  yielding  resonance  to  that  of 
Shakespeare !”  and  there  is  no  fixed  age 
at  which  man,  the  instrument  upon 
which  he  plays,  begins  to  be  conscious 
of  the  harmony.  The  list  is  a good  one, 
but  the  advice  to  read  it  in  “order”  is  al- 
together bad. 

At  the  age  of  six,  as  you  may  remember, 
the  “Little  Minister”  hit  another  boy 
hard , for  belonging  to  the  Established 
Church,  from  which  the  stern  Auld 
Lichts  were  the  original  seceders.  At 
seven  he  could  not  lose  himself  in  the 
shorter  catechism.  His  mother  expounded 
the  scriptures  to  him  until  he  was  eight, 
when  he  began  to  expound  them  to  her.” 

29 


By-and-by,  there  came  a black  year  when 
the  things  of  this  world,  especially  its 
pastimes,  took  such  a grip  of  Gavin  that 
he  said  to  Margaret  (his  mother)  he 
would  rather  be  good  at  the  high  jump 
than  the  author  of  “Pilgrim’s  Progress.” 
But  that  year  passed  and  Gavin  came  to 
his  right  mind. 

Why  not  take  note  of  these  things,  and 
while  we  cater  to  it,  educate  the  interest 
of  the  child?  Season  his  “hash”  with 
books  of  his  kind, — travel,  adventure,  the 
stories  of  the  great  deeds  of  historic  men, 
biography,  history,  poetry,  all  literature, 
and  presently  a library.  “Give  us,  0 give 
us,”  says  Carlyle,  “the  man  who  sings 
at  his  work.  He  will  do  more  in  the  same 
time,  he  will  do  it  better,  he  will  persevere 
longer.  One  is  scarcely  sensible  of  fatigue 
whilst  he  marches  to  music.”  But  who 
will  sing,  except  the  man  whose  mind  is 
filled  with  good  thoughts  ? The  man 
whose  head  is  empty  can,  at  the  utmost, 
merely  whistle . If  the  pleasure  to  be  de- 
rived from  good  books, — the  added  dispo- 
sition, as  well  as  ability,  to  sing  at  one’s 
work,  were  all,  it  would  amply  justify 
everything  we  are  doing,  or  can  do  to 
make  the  children  acquainted  with  them. 


30 


But  the  chief  end  of  man  is  not  happi- 
ness. Books,  rightly  chosen,  and  rightly 
read,  will  certainly  throw  over  our  lives 
great  floods  of  the  “light  that  never  was 
on  sea  or  land,”  but  their  full  service  goes 
much  further  than  that.  “Every  animal 
of  the  barnyard,  the  field  and  the  forest, — 
of  the  earth  and  of  the  waters  that  are 
under  the  earth” — says  Ralph  Waldo — 
“has  contrived  to  get  a footing  and  to 
leave  the  print  of  its  features  and  form  in 
some  one  or  other  of  these  upright 
heaven-facing  speakers.  Ah,  brother,  hold 
fast  to  the  man  and  awe  the  beast;  stop 
the  ebb  of  thy  soul — ebbing  downward  in- 
to the  forms  into  whose  habits  thou  hast 
now  for  many  years  slid.” 

So  the  highest  aim  we  have  to  accom- 
plish through  the  agency  of  the  library 
is  an  ethical  one. 

“We  come,  then,  to  the  great  concourse 
of  the  Dead,”  says  Ruskin,  “not  merely 
to  know  from  them  what  is  true , buf 
chiefly  to  feel  with  them  what  is  right - 
eous.”  “Men  are  criminals  because  they 
have  not  imagination  enough  to  see  the 
inevitable  consequences  of  their  mis- 
deeds,” says  Charles  De  Garmo. 

But  most  of  us  might  better  “bay  the 


31 


moon”  than  depend  upon  direct  and  di- 
dactic methods  in  teaching  ethics.  If 
the  education  which  “makes  for  the  con- 
duct of  life”  depended  upon  that,  its 
influence  would  be  altogether  insufficient. 
In  this  part  of  our  work  we  must  proceed 
almost  wholly  by  oblique  methods. 

The  county  superintendent  of  LaSalle 
county,  who  has  been  one  of  the  most 
devoted  friends  and  advocates  of  the  Il- 
linois Pupils*  Eeading  Circle,  tells  me 
that,  in  addition  to  the  greater  interest 
in  the  school  work,  both  by  pupils  and 
parents,  which  he  attributes  to  the  reading 
of  the  books  supplied  by  the  circle,  he 
sees  a distinct  effect  upon  the  conduct  of 
the  pupils.  He  is  a close  observer. 

I asked  Mr.  Barbour,  who  is  the  soul 
of  the  Eockford  plan,  if  during  the  first 
three  months  of  its  operation,  he  had  seen 
any  results  that  could  be  stated  in  words. 
He  sent  me  the  following  answers  the 
other  day: 

I.  “One  boy  who  has  been  in  the  habit 
of  spending  several  evenings  each  week 
down  town  on  the  streets,  became  very 
much  interested  in  the  books  that  he  had 
drawn  from  the  library  sent  to  his  room. 
Two  or  three  weeks  after  the  books  had 


32 


been  put  into  the  school,  he  told  his 
teacher  that  these  library  books  were  bet- 
ter than  a curfew  law  for  him,  for  he  had 
not  been  down  town  an  evening  since  the 
library  came  into  his  room.  He  spent 
his  evenings  reading  the  nice  books  that 
he  drew  from  the  library. 

II.  “In  another  school,  a little  colored 
boy,  by  his  almost  utter  disregard  for  the 
rules  of  good  order  and  the  neglect  of  his 
books  had  become  a very  seriously  dis- 
turbing element  in  school,  and  his  teacher 
was  getting  not  a little  discouraged  about 
doing  anything  with  him.  One  day  the 
subject  of  heroes  was  being  considered. 
Several  pupils  had  told  of  heroes  that  they 
had  read  about,  among  them  Grant,  Sher- 
idan, and  Dewey.  Soon  the  teacher  no-, 
ticed  this  boy’s  hand  raised.  She  called 
upon  him.  He  said,  “I  can  tell  of  a hero.” 
When  asked  to  tell  his  story,  he  stood  with 
eyes  sparkling,  and  told  the  story  of  one 
of  the  old  Greek  heroes  about  which  he 
had  read  in  one  of  the  books  he  had  taken 
from  the  library.  (Apollo,  serving  King 
Admetus  a year  and  a day,  as  like  as  any, — 
and  all  about  the  golden  chariot  drawn 
by  the  Lion  and  the  Boar  in  which  they 
went  to  claim  the  beautiful  Alcestis.) 


33 


Since  then,  he  has  been  much  more  inter- 
ested in  his  school-work  and  his  conduct 
in  school  is  very  much  improved. 

III.  “In  another  school,  a boy,  who 
seemed  to  have  no  interest  in  school  01 
school  work,  and  who  had  spent  much 
of  his  time  in  planning  mischief,  became 
very  much  interested  in  the  books  he  read 
from  the  library.  Since  then  he  has  be- 
come one  of  the  most  studious  of  his  class, 
and  his  deportment  is  very  much  im- 
proved. 

IV.  Many  of  the  parents  and  the  older 
brothers  and  sisters  of  the  pupils  who 
were  not  patrons  of  the  public  library 
proper,  have  become  interested  in  these 
books.  Pupils  have  frequently  asked  their 
teacher  for  an  extension  of  time  on  their 
books  so  that  other  members  of  the  family 
at  home  could  read  them. 

Testimony  of  this  sort  is  abundant.  All 
who  have  used  the  P.  R.  C.  books  much 
express  surprise  at  their  universal  adapta- 
tion. Older  brothers  and  sisters  read 
them  “on  the  sly,”  parents  enjoy  them 
openly,  and  teachers  read  them  both  ways 
— depending  upon  the  teacher — all  read 
with  pleasure  and  profit. 

Such  illustrations  might  be  multiplied 


34 


indefinitely.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the 
value  of  books,  then,  in  the  education 
which  counts  most  for  the  “Conduct  of 
Life/’  nor  that  what  we  do  to  inculcate 
the  love  of  liberty,  truthfulness,  patriot- 
ism, piety,  patience,  gratitude,  reverence, 
philanthropy,  fortitude,  and  to  subdue 
such  passions  as  anger,  avarice,  envy,  jeal- 
ousy, hatred,  revenge,  pride  and  vanity — 
to  “hold  fast  to  the  man  and  to  awe  the 
beast/’  can  best  be  done, — can,  perhaps, 
in  some  cases  be  done  in  no  other  way 
than  through  home,  school,  and  public 
library. 

There  is  a story  of  a rough  sea  captain, 
of  the  old  school,  who  went  on  a long 
voyage  in  command  of  a sailing  ship. 
There  was  but  one  book  on  the  ship — a 
volume  of  Shelley.  When  that  captain 
came  home  again,  he  had  been  trans- 
formed from  a rough  sailor  to  a cultivated 
gentleman  in  fact  and  in  appearance. 

I cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the 
story,  but  we  can  all  vouch  for  its  essence. 
One  book  owned  is  equal  to  many  taken 
from  the  library.  Every  man  is  rightful 
heir  to  a share  of  the  culture  of  his  time, 
but  he  cannot  possess  it  until  he  owns , 
as  well  as  reads , a few  good  books.  “1ST c 
book,”  says  Euskin,  “is  serviceable  until 


it  has  been  read,  and  re-read,  and  loved 
and  loved  again ; and  marked  so  that  yon 
can  refer  to  the  passages  yon  want  in  it* 
as  a soldier  can  seize  the  weapon  he  needs 
in  an  armory,  or  a honse-wife  bring  the 
spice  she  needs  from  her  store.” 

The  final  cause,  then,  of  all  our  work  to 
develop  interest  in  books  and  to  train  the 
children  to  read  them, — should  be  to  lead 
them  to  know,  select  and  become  the 
owners  of  books ; some  of  which,  at  least, 
should  not  only  be  real  books,  but  well 
bound,  printed  from  clear  type,  on  good 
paper,  with  broad  margins ; standards  of 
taste,  as  well  as  sources  of  happiness,  vir- 
tue and  strength. 

I have  seen  nowhere  a clearer  statement 
of  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the  true  notion 
of  human  dignity  than  this  by  the  pro- 
found old  Scotch  critic:  “Two  men  I 
honor,  and  no  third.  First,  the  toil-worn 
craftsman  that  with  EARTH-made  im- 
plement laboriously  conquers  the  Earth, 
and  makes  her  man’s.  Venerable*  to  m§ 
is  the  hard  Hand ; crooked,  coarse ; where- 
in notwithstanding  lies  a cunning  virtue, 
indefeasibly  royal,  as  of  the  Scepter  of 
this  Planet.  Venerable,  too,  is  the  rugged 
face,  all  weather-tanned,  besoiled  with 


36 


its  rude  intelligence ; for  it  is  the  face  of  a 
Man  living  manlike . 0,  but  the  more 

venerable  for  thy  rudeness,  and  even  be- 
cause we  must  pity  as  well  as  love  thee ! 
Hardly-entreated  brother!  For  us  was 
thy  back  so  bent,  for  us  were  thy  straight 
limbs  and  fingers  so  deformed;  thou  wert 
our  Conscript , on  whom  the  lot  fell,  and 
fighting  our  battles  wert  so  marred.  For 
in  thee,  too,  lay  a god-created  Form,  but 
it  was  not  to  be  unfolded ; incrusted  must 
it  stand  with  the  thick  adhesions  and 
defacements  of  Labor : and  thy  body , like 
thy  soul , was  not  to  know  freedom.  Yet 
toil  on,  toil  on:  thou  art  in  thy  duty,  be 
out  of  it  who  may ; thou  toilest  for  the  al-. 
together  indispensable,  for  daily  bread. 

“A  second  man  I honor,  and  still  more 
highly : Him  who  is  seen  toiling  for  the 
spiritually  indispensable ; not  daily  bread, 
but  the  bread  of  Life.  Is  not  he,  too,  in 
his  duty,  endeavoring  towards  inward 
Harmony;  revealing  this,  by  act  or  by 
word,  through  all  his  outward  endeavors, 
be  they  high  or  low  ? Highest  of  all,  when 
his  outward  and  his  inward  endeavor  are 
one ; when  we  can  name  him  Artist ; not 
earthly  Craftsman  only,  but  inspired 
Thinker,  who  with  heaven- made  Imple- 


37 


ment  conquers  Heaven  for  us ! If  the 
poor  and  humble  toil  that  we  have  Food% 
must  not  the  high  and  glorious  toil  for 
him  in  return,  that  he  have  Light,  have 
Guidance,  Freedom,  Immortality  ? — These 
two,  in  all  their  degrees,  I honor : all  else 
is  chaff  and  dust,  which  let  the  wind  blow 
whither  it  listeth.  , 

“Unspeakably  touching  is  it,  however, 
when  I find  both  dignities  united ; and 
he  that  must  toil  outwardly  for  the  lowest 
of  man’s  wants,  is  also  toiling  inwardly 
for  the  highest.  S.ublimer  in  this  world 
know  I nothing  than  a Peasant  Saint 
could  such  now  anywhere  be  met  with. 
Such  a one  will  take  thee  back  to  Naza- 
reth itself;  thou  wilt  see  the  splendor  of. 
Heaven  spring  forth  from  the  humblest 
depths  of  Earth,  like  a light  shining  in 
the  great  darkness !’  (Sartor  Resartus, 
Chap.  IV.) 

If  the  library  is  a potent  agent  in  the 
work  of  the  school,  which  is  to  raise  more 
and  more  men  and  women  toward 
this  sublime  dual  dignity,  we  can 
do  no  better  thing  for  the  chil- 
dren whose  characters  we  are — at  least 
in  part — forming  than  to  say  to  them, 
“Here  are  books,  always  diligently  taking 


38 


care  that  they  are  books — they  open  to 
you  all  of  earth  and  a good  deal  of 
Heaven ! You  have  eyes  and  brains.  Set 
to  and  Read.” 

The  teacher  who  does  less  than  this 
neglects  his  golden  opportunity.  On  the 
other  hand,  all  that  the  high  school, — tho 
college, — and  the  university  can  do,  is 
but  to  continue  what  the  primary  school 
began  and  teach  us  to  read. 


39 


